Egypt Riot Police Fire Tear Gas at Protesters

Posted December 4th, 2012 at 12:50 pm (UTC-5)
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Egyptian riot police on Tuesday fired tear gas outside the presidential palace as large crowds of opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi took to the streets of Cairo in three separate demonstrations Tuesday.

Leaders of the protest, including former presidential candidates Amr Moussa, Hamdeen Sebahi and Mohammed Elbaradei dubbed it a “final warning” to Mr. Morsi to withdraw presidential support for a primarily Islamist draft constitution approved by a committee last week.

The committee was boycotted by secular, leftist and Christian members. The proposed constitution is scheduled to go to a referendum on Dec. 15.

Amr Moussa, who was leading one of the three protest marches, said that pushing through the draft was “inflaming public opinion” and that disagreements over the text needed to be resolved first.

In addition to the popular demonstrations, 11 Egyptian newspapers suspended publication on Tuesday to protest the proposed constitution and clauses which they say restrict freedom of expression.